The Hoke County News - Established 1928
Volume LXXV Number 7 RAEFORD, HOKE COUNTY, NORTH CAROLINA
- journal
The Hoke County Journal - Established 1905
S10 PER YEAR Thursday, June 9, 1983
The Cessna ISO, apparently piloted by Charles Morgan, wrapped around the trees located in this wooded area
near the Raeford airport. The plane appears to be totaled but the pilot allegedly received only minor injuries.
Blood was found on the door of the plane (right) as well as on the pilot 's seat. Yellow tape (in right background )
was marked around the crashed plane indicating that some sort of investigation was going on.
Mystery Surrounds Crash
B> Sherry Matthews
Although an area aircraft crash
ed near the Raeford Airport Satur
day night, Federal Aviation
^ Authorities (FAA) remained
" "unclear" aboul the incident on
Tuesday.
FAA officials in Raleigh, Fayet
teville and Atlanta said Monday
and Tuesday they were unsure of
the details of the mysterious crash,
and when or if the incident had
been reported.
Parachute jump school owner
Gene Thacker said the crash ap
^ parently occurred between 9:30 or
? 10:00 Saturday night while the
pilot was practicing "night land
ings" at the Raeford Airport.
According to Thacker, Charles
Morgan, 51, of Hope Mills, landed
short of the runway and apparent
ly "wrapped his Cessna 150
around some trees."
Thacker also said that his son
found Morgan "wandering
^ around" at about 10 p.m.
Around Town
by Sam Morris
Summertime has not officially
arrived, but the temperature Mon
day made one think that it had
* come early. The rain Sunday after -
9 noon was approximately Vi inch
and helped a lot. Of course we
need more and the forecast is for
thunder showers on into the week.
The rainfall report came from
Bill Lancaster. It seems the
weatherman is on the Outer Banks
fishing for a few days. I hope the
weather didn't force him indoors
during his trip.
* * * *
When you write a column like
this one every week, at times you
wonder if people are still reading
what you write. I found out that
the item last week about Carrie
Sturgis was read by many of her
former pupils. They stopped me on
the street to tell me about it.
Some of the former students
) (See AROUND, page 3A)
"He (Morgan) was looking for
me," Thacker said.
The crash occurred about one
mile from the runway in a heavily
wooded area off of state Highway
1323.
There are approximately 30
residences between the crash site
and the airport.
According to Thacker, his son
Tim, apparently reported the non
fatal accident to the FAA between
10-10:30 p.m. Saturday.
Highway patrolmen were at the
scene by 11 p.m., Thacker said.
FAA officials in Atlanta remain
unsure at this time about the
details of the crash.
An FAA official from Raleigh
told The News-Journal Tuesday
that the matter had been turned
over to the National Transporta
tion Safety Board in Atlanta, "as
it should be."
Dick Shippman with the Na
tional Transportation Safety
Board in Atlanta said that they had
been unable 10 locate the pilot to
get any more details about the acci
dent.
According to Shippman, Atlan
ta officials got their information
from state FAA authorities.
According to Gilbert Hoffheins,
FAA official in Fayetteville, The
News-Journal has "more informa
tion about the crash" than the
federal agencies.
Even though officials are ha/v
about the facts of the crash, it w as
noted that Monday morning
yellow tape was barricading the
destroyed plane, leading to the
belief that some sort of investiga
tion was underway.
Another missing link in the
crash appears to be the alleged
time gap between when the acci
dent occurred and when Hoke
County authorities were notified.
According to Hoke Rescue
Squad member Mark Posey, the
squad was dispatched after an
(See CRASH, page 12A)
PCB Cleanup Pledged
At Toxic Dump Sites
Cleanup procedures have begun
at one of three recently di covered
PCB-laced dump sites in Hoke
County, Health Director Lloyd
Home said Tuesday.
Woody Wilson Jr. of
Goldsboro, who operates a
transformer salvage business on
state Highway 211 near the Ashley
Heights area, has agreed to clean
up two sites and is currently
removing "contaminated" debris
from another dumping area
located on property owned by his
aunt, Delia Wilson, Home said.
Low to mid levels of PCB have
been found on all three sites, and
hazardous levels of lead were
discovered by state investigators in
two of the dumping areas. Home
said.
According to Home, the PCB
levels are not hazardous by defini
tion with only 1 1 parts per million
found at the Delia Wilson site and
.19 parts per million found on the
site where battery casings had been
buried. A third location near Mc
Cain Hospital also showed low
levels of PCB's.
Wilson said earlier that he stored
salvaged ashes which were remov
ed from a warehouse fire in Aber
deen on his aunt's property.
It was from those ashes that lead
levels were found which are 60
times higher than what is con
sidered safe by the state, Home
said.
Witnesses and Delia Wilson
have said that Wilson burned at
the site late at night on a regular
basis.
Wilson has admitted burning
only wooden pallets.
The ashes, not only contain
"dangerous levels" of lead and
low levels of PCB's, but other
"precious" metals. Home said.
"He is going to recycle them
legally," the health director added.
Both sites were well below
federal PCB hazardous waste
levels of 49 parts per million,
Home said.
Wilson is already clearing the
Delia Wilson site by removing
ashes in barrels and having them
recycled, "legally", to pull out all
the usuable coppers and leads,
Home said.
Later in the week, Wilson also
intends to bring in a crane to aid in
the removal of the heavy solid
metals that are at the site, the
health director said.
Once the cleanup is completed,
Wilson has agreed to let a private
lab take multiple samples to deter
mine whether PCB's or lead has
"leached" into the soil.
If the results of those lab test
show "leaching" in the soil, then
contaminated soil will have to be
removed and taken to an approved
hazardous waste dump, Home
said.
The nearest approved area to
(See PCB. page I2A)
Raeford Moratorium Still Lingers
By Sherry Matthews
Although construction of a
waste water treatment facility at
the House of Raeford turkey plant
is completed, a state moratorium
placed on the city has not yet been
lifted. North Carolina officials
said this week.
"The moratorium will be lifted
when the city can demonstrate the
waste water treatment system is at
an acceptable limit," state Depart
ment of Natural Resources and
Community Development
(NRCD), Regional Environmental
Management Engineer Mick
Noland said.
According to City Manager,
Ron Matthews, getting the turkey
plant's system to meet "com
pliance" standards will be the final
act needed to get the ban on in
dustry lifted in the city.
At this point, the turkey plant is
apparently not quite meeting the
city's waste ordinance.
The turkey plant is still "work
ing the bugs out", Matthews said.
"They are working diligently to
come into compliance," Matthews
said.
According to Noland, a great
deal of progress has been made
and improvements shown, but at
this point "they are not consistent
ly meeting the effluent limits re
quired."
Many of the city's sewer woes
have been pinned on the House of
Raeford, who had been running a
10-year battle with the city over its
sewer clean-up.
In January, city councilmen
socked the plant with some
$33,000 in fines for not bringing
the plant's discharge into com
pliance with the city's ordinance.
Those fines have not been levied
yet, because of the House of
Raeford's efforts to meet com
pliance standards, Matthews said.
The city is still operating under a
warning from NRCD because of
the plant's violations, but
deadlines have been extended
again and again so that the House
of Raeford can get in "full opera
tion."
According to Matthews, the
House of Raeford has been work
ing "diligently" to come into com
pliance.
"Everyone is working hand and
glove to get this moratorium
lifted," Matthews said.
If Matthews' calculations are
correct, the plant's operation
could be in full swing and the
moratorium lifted within the next
two months.
"They should be well on their
way in the next two to three
weeks," Matthews said.
According to Matthews, the
plant is planning to do some "in
house" work on the facility during
the July 4 holiday when all
employees will be on vaction.
If all these things are done as
promised, the moratorium should
be lifted soon, Matthews said.
Higher City Water Rates Mulled
B> Sherry Matthews
If a budget now under con
sideration by the Raeford City
Council is approved, city residents
will see a "slight" increase in water
and sewer bills beginning July 1,
City Manager Ron Matthews said.
Matthews told members of the
city council at Monday night's
meeting, that he was requesting an
overall 3 . 5 increase for all
customers.
This increase will mean a jump
of approximately 25 cents for the
average customer, Matthews said.
~ 1
Waiting in line for cheese and butter!
Many Hoke residents stood In line Wednesday and part of Thursday to gel their share of the cheese and butter
the Department of Social Services was giving away to those eligible. The 12,816 pounds of butler and 30,000
pounds of cheese, retailing at over S 100,000, were gone in a little over eight hours. The distribution was suppos
ed to take place over a three day period, but demand for the products left an empty \ational Guard Armory by
10 a.m. Thursday. Ch er 40 volunteers aided in the distribution of the products including several boys from the
Sandhills Youth Center who helped unlitad the products.
At present, the minimum water
rate is $5.75. That rate will change
to $5.96 if the budget is approved.
According to Matthews, the
average customer's bill now is
$9.22 and will only increase by 30
cents beginning in July.
For residents and mainly
businesses using 15,000 gallons of
water per month, the rate will
jump from $24.26 to $25.38; an in
crease of less than $2.
"The average customer's bill
will show about a 25 cent a month
increase," Matthews said.
United Way
Exceeds Goal
The Hoke County United Way
has gone over the top for the 1983
fund raising effort, campaign of
ficials said Tuesday.
This year's effort exceeded cam
paign goal of $23,631 by more
than $3,500, Campaign Chairman
Ron Matthews and fund President
Ken Witherspoon said.
Volunteers raised l^07? of the
1983 goal or $27,175, the cam
paign officials said.
There is also an outside chance
that more money will be raised
because businesses and individuals
have until June 30 to respond to
campaign requests, Witherspoon
said.
The most important aspect of
reaching the goal was the signifi
cant increase in the number of
businesses and individuals con
tributing he said.
"This year's positive response to
the United Fund is an indication of
(See UNITED WAY. page 3A)
According to Matthews, the city
will only generate $20,000 tor the
water-sewer fund from this rate in
crease.
The increase will rise a little each
year in order to get the water-sewer
fund on a self-sustaining basis,
Matthews said.
According to Matthews, the
small increases each year were
favored over one drastic rate hike.
A 50 cent increase for residential
garbage pick-up will also be shown
(See WATER, page 11 A)
Inside Today
Graduation
The I9R3 graduates from all
Hoke County schools, as well
as recent college commence
ment exercises in wiving coun
ty residents are covered in Sec
tion C of today's newspaper.
Hoke County
The county has come a long
way since 1911. We review the
history of the county on page
one of Section B in today's
News-Journal.